Determination of lead and cadmium content in cattle hair, blood and milk

Abstract

Lead and cadmium content of cattle hair, blood, milk and forage were determined in our analysis in order to gather basic data and find the answer for how suitable the different coloured hairs and the white hairs were for examination. One of the our target was to establish whether there were any connections between the lead and cadmium content of blood, milk and the lead and cadmium content of hair. We counted the daily intake of each element based on the measured proportion and the quantity of forage fed. According to the daily intake we determined the lead and cadmium load of each animal. We examined the correlation of blood and milk samples to the different coloured hairs among the herds. The correlation coefficients were mediocre. The lead and cadmium content of the different coloured hair were compared to each other and we found that looking at these two elements the average value in black hair was significantly higher than in the case of red and white hair. We also found that in the case of lead both the coloured and the white hair were suitable for examination but in the case of cadmium only the coloured ones were recommendable. We investigated the appearance of the typical calcium-lead and zinc-cadmium antagonism in the hair. In the case of calcium - lead the correlation were mediocre (r=0,67-0,68) and close (r=0,76 in red hair), thus this interaction was not characteristic. In case of zinc-cadmium the correlation was poor (r=0,3-0,45) apart from the red hair, wich can indicates the appearance of the antagonism of these elements in the hair.